- a Peugeot 107The Toyota recall debacle over its faulty accelerator pedal has spread its wings. We now find out that thousands of Peugeot 107 and Citroen C1 are being recalled. According to sources, up to a hundred thousand units in total could be affected. The reason for this is that both models are based on a Toyota. The Toyota Aygo.

- Citroen C1
- Toyota Aygo

Amazing what all of this platform sharing technology has gotten car manufacturers into. While platform sharing saves cost, allowing two or three different manufacturers to produce their own variants of the same car, we now know that defects may be shared due to parts sharing. All three cars are manufactured in Czechoslovakia (most probably for Europe/ left hand drive markets) in the same factory. Toyota is recalling up to 1.8 million cars all over Europe aside from the few million affected over in the United States and China.

On another note, Honda would recall close to 650,000 of its Fit/Jazz and City models, including 140,000 in the United States, because of a faulty window switch, after a child died when fire broke out in a car last year. The years affected are the 2007-2008 models of which an overlap of the new and the old Fit/Jazz models took place. In other words, if you bought the last batch of Fit, Jazz or City, your car may be subject to the recall. Unless yours is a grey import Japan manufactured model which according to Honda isn't affected by all this drama. The thing is, to date (10.00am Monday 1st Feb), there have been no official press release on Kah Motors Honda Singapore on its official website. I'd suggest potential 'victims' of this problem contact the nearest Honda service center as soon as it is possible. Imagine a little short circuit causing your Honda to burst into flames.

- If you own this Honda, you may want to make a visit to your neighborhood Honda Service Center.

It is now time for all of the above car manufacturers to get into damage control mode and really stop the bleeding. Aside from a damaged reputation, an example of the monetary amount that could be lost from this matter, the National Automobile Dealers Association of America estimates that their Toyota dealers could lose up to US$2.5 billion in revenue and another few hundred million in recall fixes. Imagine the stock market losses too.

The western press are very co-operative in playing up the faults relating to Toyota to help local car makers boost sales. End of the day, their high cost is not a sustainable business model. They just can't talk down about asian products for long.